Having seen The Last Airbender gross untold millions despite the worst reviews in many a year, I confess myself discouraged at the prospect of reviewing The Sorcerer's Apprentice. This is a much better film than Airbender, which is faint praise, but it's becoming clear that every weekend brings another heavily marketed action "comedy" that pounds tens of millions out of consumers before evaporating.

I use the word "consumer" deliberately. This genre doesn't require an audience in the traditional sense. It attracts children and young teenagers with the promise of cinematic fast food: It's all sugar and caffeine, no nutrition. In place of a plot there's a premise, in place of carefully crafted action there are stupefying exercises in computer-generated imagery, and in place of an ending there's a hook for the sequel and, if all goes well, a new franchise.... [full review]